TAROT The complete history of the Tarot is a mystery. The roots of tarot can be traced back 2,000 years to China, India and Egypt. Modern tarot, with roots in France, Italy and Spain, dates back 500 years. The tarot deck is the ancestor of today’s playing cards. Today’s playing cards feature hearts, spades, diamonds and clubs. Tarot cards have cups, swords, pentacles and wands. Each family (suit) of cards represents an aspect of life: pentacles generally relate to money, for instance. The major arcana are additional cards which brings a tarot deck to a total of 78 cards. Major arcana cards each have specialized meaning and each one features images independent of the four suits in the lower arcana. Cards are laid out in “spreads” with each card representing an aspect of the question being asked – a card may represent the far past, the near past or an important person. Cards are turned over all at once or as the reading progresses through each card. Upside down cards have additional nuances during the reading. For a fun online twelve month yearly report and to get a look at some of the images in a tarot deck, go to the New Age Store http://www.newagestore.com/Divination/Tarot.aspx. Go to Amy Zerner and Monte Farber's site http://theenchantedworld.com/freereadings/, too.
